Liberty and Tolerance in an Age of Religious Conflict - Muslim Perspectives

Описание: For more on this event, visit: http://bit.ly/hFddUR
For more on the Berkley Center, visit: http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu

September 8, 2011 | Religious liberty and tolerance are among the most central global issues facing us today. Too often scholars have approached them solely as philosophical questions or abstract universal imperatives, obscuring their meaning and significance within specific religious traditions. Any effort to deepen appreciation for religious liberty and tolerance while excluding religious voices is bound to fail. In conjunction with Calvin College, the Berkley Center convened scholars and practitioners from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim backgrounds to examine and compare resources supportive of religious freedom and tolerance within their own traditions. The participants were among the contributors to a forthcoming book, Abraham's Children: Liberty and Tolerance in an Age of Religious Conflict (Yale University Press). The conference, made possible through the generous support of the John Templeton Foundation, concluded with an interfaith service in commemoration of September 11, 2001.


Each of the panels addressed the following questions:

1. Historically, how has your tradition been exploited by opponents of religious liberty and tolerance? Does such exploitation persist, and why?
2. What are the major resources within your tradition supportive of religious liberty and tolerance? What do they add to dominant secular human rights discourse?
3. How can interfaith dialogue and activism advance the liberty and tolerance agenda? What dangers and pitfalls do you see along the way?

Keynote by Hedieh Mirahmadi

Hedieh Mirahmadi is an attorney, author, and founder and president of the World Organization for Resource Development & Education (WORDE), which works to improve communication between Muslim and non-Muslim communities in order to reduce social conflict and political instability. She has advised the US Embassy in Afghanistan and Office of the Director of National Intelligence and is a member of the the LAPD Counter Terrorism Community Police Advisory Board. Mirahmadi is the editor of several books, including Islam and Civil Society (2005) and In the Shadow of Saints: Sufi Discourses of Shayk Muhammad Hisham Kabbani (2006). She is a member of the all-female Shura Council of the Women's Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality and has studied Islamic law within the tradition of the Naqshbandi Haqqani Sufi Order. Mirahmadi holds a JD from the University of Southern California.